The Animal Keepers — Donn Behnke Typically I get a few books for Christmas from my in-laws and that’s one of the best times of the year for me to sit down and actually get in some good reading (along with the summer)…I surprisingly got this book for Christmas a few years ago and could … More Book Recommendation — The Animal Keepers

“It’s important to not just physically prepare athletes, but have them in the right psychological state of mind as well.”  — John McDonnell  The greatest knew that it wasn’t just training them physically. All of us who coach have worked with those athletes who had the talent, skill, athleticism, etc., but they could not perform … More Learning From the Greats — John McDonnell

Today I have the pleasure of introducing Ryan McSpadden as a member of the 2020 US Olympic Marathon Trials Project. Ryan wears a lot of hats for this project and the Greater Texas Track Club…but it’s his love for this community and these projects which has me excited for his future in running. There’s no … More 2020 US Olympic Marathon Trials Project — Ryan McSpadden

4 x 200 meters + 4 x 800 meters + 4 x 400 meters + 4 x 200 meters Assigned splits: 32-34 secs (200m), 2:24-2:28 (800m), 68-70 secs (400m), 30-32 secs (200m) Recovery: 200 meter jog (200m), 2:20 rest (800m), 90 secs (400m), 200 meter jog (200m) Matthew Torvik, April 2018 This session came the … More Workout of the Day — Matthew Torvik

I hope that anyone who read this past week’s posts enjoyed the insight into our program. Time was short and so the daily reviews were not as in-depth as I would have liked, but I wanted to be sure that we at least let everyone in to what we were doing. I hope that was … More DBU XC Pre-Season Camp — Review

Day #6 — Saturday, August 18th 6:15AM — Trinity Trail-head, Fort Worth, TX 9-18 miles long run…naturally progressive. This was a GREAT end to our camp week…we took the team out to the Fort Worth Trinity Trail-head for a naturally progressive long run. The goal was to run easy, but get faster throughout and finish … More DBU XC Pre-Season Camp — Day #6

Day #5 — Friday, August 17th 6AM — Jackson Middle School Track Speed maintenance session — 3 miles warm up + Drills + 4 x strides + 2 x (5 x 200 meters) w/ 200 meter jog between reps and 1000 meter jog between sets + 2-3 miles cool down. This was a great TEAM … More DBU XC Pre-Season Camp — Day #5

Day #4 — Thursday, August 16th 6AM — White Rock Lake 5-14 miles easy run The goal for today was to get in an easy run…pretty simple. Monday was tough, Wednesday was tough, and today is a little longer for most…but we wanted to keep it relaxed. Our program is about building up aerobically throughout … More DBU XC Pre-Season Camp — Day #4

Day #3 — Wednesday, August 15th 6AM — Capella Park 400 meter hill repeats (8-16 x 400 meter hills) The challenge to the squad today was to ‘do your job’ on each repeat. It can be overwhelming thinking about 16 reps…but if you just do your job on each repeat it becomes manageable and you … More DBU XC Pre-Season Camp — Day #3

Day #2 — Tuesday, August 14th 6AM — Trinity Corridor (Dirt Road) 5-12 miles easy run We woke to another wet morning…but had another positive day. The hardest thing for new athletes to grasp (usually) is just how important the day to day training is. I think this crew is getting that pretty quickly, which … More DBU Pre-Season XC Camp — Day #2